Contents

Gameplay

Starting with Diglett, the player must play his or her way through a total of 90 levels of pinball (70 in Quest mode, and 10 each in Time Attack and Score Attack), the object usually being to put a Poké Ball (serving as the pinball) in each hole. Along the way, the player can catch more Pokémon to use.

Some levels have restrictions on which plungers can and can't be used.

The final level of the game only allows Diglett to be used.

A rather aquatic-based level only allows Poliwag to be used.

The levels directly following their respective capture levels only allow Pikachu and Clefairy to be used, respectively.

A number of the more tricky levels prohibit Clefairy from being used due to its ability to allow the player a small amount of control over where the ball goes.

Pikachu, Wobbuffet, Clefairy, and Poliwag cannot be used to replay their respective capture levels.

Modes

There are three modes of play in Pokémon Pinball mini.

Quest

Quest is the main mode, consisting of 70 levels. It is also the only mode in which the player will encounter capture levels. In addition, the Quest mode consists mainly of a mixture of Fill Holes and High Score levels. Each level must be completed to unlock the following level, a restriction exclusive to this mode. Upon completing level 70, the title screen will change to include Poliwag and Wobbuffet alongside Diglett.

Time Attack

Time Attack mode consists of ten Fill Holes levels. Unlike Quest Mode, all ten levels are accessible from the start.

Score Attack

Score Attack mode consists of ten High Score levels. Like Time Attack mode, all ten levels are accessible from the start.

Types of levels

There are three types of levels, all of which are restricted by time limits.

Fill holes

The object of such levels is to fill each of the multiple holes with a Poké Ball. After a hole is filled, it will close up and another Poké Ball will appear. This continues until all the holes are filled. Although the timer counts upwards on these levels, if the level is completed outside of the time limit, the player will be given a "time's up" message and the level will not be counted as completed.

High Score

In these sorts of levels, the player earns one point for getting a Poké Ball into a hole, and three points for getting it in there with a power shot. In addition to the time limit, there is also a minimum score the player must surpass.

Capture

There are only four levels like this, and in all of them, the Pokémon the player is to capture walks across the screen back and forth. Every time the player hits it with the Poké Ball, it loses 1 HP (3 if the target is hit by a power shot). When the HP gets to zero, the Pokémon will faint, and will go into the Poké Ball next time it is hit with it. If the player waits too long to capture it, however, it will wake up with 1 HP and continue walking. After catching it, the player is to shoot the Poké Ball into one of the provided holes (bear in mind that after it captures a Pokémon, the Poké Ball becomes heavier, and thus harder to hit far).

Level elements

A number of different physical elements appear on certain levels, either acting as obstacles or serving to assist the player. The objects are always present on the levels they appear on and they always appear on the same level.

Bumper: If the pinball hits the bumper, it bounces back with additional force. On some levels, the bumper can move back and forth.

Ditto: Ditto can be considered the opposite of the bumper. If the pinball hits Ditto, it loses all its momentum and moves slowly downward. On some levels, Ditto can move back and forth.

Block: This boulder only serves as an obstacle and can be shattered if hit three times by the pinball, or if hit once by a power shot.

Hard Block: This resembles a metal cube. Like the block, it is an obstacle. Unlike the block, it can only be shattered by a power shot.

Pichu: Pichu hangs on a wall, facing outwards. If the ball hits it, it grabs the ball and throws it in the direction it is facing, with the same momentum it had when it hit Pichu. If it was hit by a power shot, the ball will move upwards slightly when Pichu throws it, and will still count as a power shot for scoring and capturing purposes. For the most part, each level that has Pichu has two of them, although there are exceptions. Most notably, two Pichu are present on Pikachu's capture level.

Water: If the ball lands in a pool of water, it's "game over".

Out Hole: If the ball lands in the out hole, it is sucked in slowly (which is bad, especially on levels with a strict time limit) and regenerated normally.

Gravity Changer: If the ball passes over a gravity changer (which looks like a black area with an arrow on it), gravity will now pull on the ball in the same direction as the arrow on that gravity changer. Most notably, this is present on Clefairy's capture level.

In Pokémon Channel

A stripped-down version of this game was included in Pokémon Channel as "Pokémon Pinball Petit", for the Pokémon mini emulation present within the game. It only allowed the first ten levels of Quest mode to be played and could not be saved, meaning that high scores were not saved, and Pikachu was not playable, even after completing its capture level.

Trivia

Wobbuffet is the only playable Pokémon that does not have a level where only it is usable.

Wobbuffet's capture level is the only capture level that does not include an object of any kind (Pikachu's level has two Pichu, Clefairy's level has four gravity changers, and Poliwag's capture level has a moving bumper).

Upon completion of a capture level, instead of the normal level completion music, the game will play a slightly remixed version of the tune heard in Red and Blue Versions when the player captures a Pokémon.